Charlie Parker - South of the Border

Charlie Parker's work with Latin jazz groups departs from his classic bebop playing primarily in its approach to rhythm. The more groove-oriented patterns of Latin jazz are in marked contrast to the sometimes irregular accents of bebop. This collection has each master take from the sessions that featured Parker blowing in front of the great Latin-Jazz percussionists - who provided the alto saxophonist with a perfect environment for him to take off from.

This Verve CD pulls together recordings from 1949-52 that were originally scattered across a handful of 10" LPs. Seven of the tunes here come from the original SOUTH OF THE BORDER 10," which featured a typical Parker ensemble of the period (Walter Bishop, Jr., piano; Teddy Kotick, bass; Roy Haynes or Max Roach, drums) augmented by Latin percussionists Jose Mangual and Luis Miranda. The three opening cuts feature Bird blowing through arrangements played by Machito and His Afro-Cuban Orchestra (originally released on MACHITO JAZZ WITH FLIP AND BIRD); Machito and orchestra return for the extended "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite" composed by Chico O'Farill.

The small group recordings sound like small group Bird recordings without the driving tempos, ornate melodic structure or reliance on either blues or "I Got Rhythm" chord changes. On "No Noise (Part 1)", one of the shorter Machito tunes, it's particularly interesting to hear Parker stretch out over the simple two-chord vamp. The "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite" includes solos by Bird but was not written with the altoist in mind. Rather, O'Farill wrote the piece as an extended jazz composition with occasional soloists; Parker was called in during the session to replace Harry "Sweets" Edison.


Personnel:

Charlie Parker (alto saxophone)on all tracks with....


Benny Harris (trumpet); Walter Bishop, Jr. (piano); Teddy Kotick (bass); Roy Haynes, Max Roach (drums)

Machito & His Afro-Cuban Orchestra includes: Machito (maracas); Chico O'Farrill (conductor); Gene Johnson, Fred Skerritt (alto saxophone); Jose Madera, Flip Phillips, Sol Rabinowitz (tenor saxophone); Leslie Johnakins (baritone saxophone); Mario Bauza (trumpet, clarinet); Paquito Davilla, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Al Stewart, Bobby Woodlen (trumpet); Rene Hernandez (piano, bass); Roberto Rodriguez (bass); Buddy Rich (drums); Jose Mangual (bongos); Luis Miranda, Chano Pozo (congas); Ubaldo Nieto (timbales)



P.S. This was on my old blog "The Sly Mongoose", I will be transfering the Jazz from over there to here in the next couple of weeks.



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